•New Lagos Assembly Speaker, Mojisola Meranda
The Lagos State House of Assembly has sworn in its first female Speaker, Mojisola Meranda.
Meranda took her oath of office following the impeachment of the former Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, during a plenary session today.
The Clerk of the House, Mr Olalekan Onafeko, was also suspended indefinitely, while the Chief Whip, Mr Mojeed Fatai, was elected as the new Deputy Speaker.
This report highlights key facts about the new Speaker, who represents Apapa Constituency I, reports The PUNCH.
1. Mojisola Meranda was born in August 1980 in Lagos, Nigeria. Her educational journey began at Randle Primary School, where she completed her primary education in 1992.
2. She attended Anglican Girls Grammar School and later Ansar-Ud-Deen Secondary School, earning her West African Senior Certificate (WASC) in 1998.
3. Meranda obtained a Certificate in Software Development (Network Engineering) from NIIT.
4. In 2013, she earned a B.Sc. in Public Administration from Lagos State University (LASU). She later obtained a Master’s in Public and International Affairs (MPIA) from the University of Lagos in 2020.
5. She is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Public Sector Management at the University of York, UK.
6. Meranda began her political career as a personal assistant to the senior special assistant in information technology. She later became a personal assistant to the Director of the Land Information System Support Unit (LISSU) in the Surveyor General’s office.
7. She worked as the office manager of Cirrus Nigeria Limited in Lekki, Lagos, and served as managing director/CEO of Worthline International Services Limited, a company she founded.
8. Meranda served as the senior special assistant on Intervention and Inter-Governmental Relations in Apapa Local Government and later as Supervisor for Health in the same local government.
9. She began her involvement in politics as a member of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD), which later transitioned into the Action Congress (AC), the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and eventually the All Progressives Congress (APC).
10. In 2015, Meranda contested and won an election to represent her constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly.
11. During the 8th Assembly, she chaired the House Committee on Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA). She also chaired the House Committee on Establishment, Training, Pension, and Public Service.
